Trump and Abbas State Desire for Peace, But Differ on Specifics

US President Donald Trump and Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas met for the first time at the White House on Wednesday, as Trump’s nascent administration is making a fresh bid to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

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Grant Rumley, a research fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told JNS.org that it was apparent from their language how far apart the two leaders might be on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“I think fundamentally, the two sides are going to have divergent views on just where they see this relationship going,” Rumley said. “Trump wants a deal, however that may look. Abbas wants the traditional two-state solution peace process.”

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This is not a sign of moderation, so much as a ploy to end the faction’s international isolation,” the Foundation for Defense of Democracies said in a policy memo. “The other element of this new document is the internal Palestinian political angle. In acknowledging the 1967 borders and dropping its call for Israel’s destruction, Hamas is making a play at the rival party Fatah’s supporters.”